Out on the round

This guide covers the driver screen in a phone browser. For offline delivery work, use the iPhone or Android app.

Drivers see their own assigned rounds, not the full office workspace.

When a round appears

A round appears after the office sends it. You receive a notification with the day and vehicle. If the office takes it back, it is removed from your view and you are notified.

The stop list

Stops are listed in delivery order with customer, address, products, estimated arrival and payment details.

Open a stop to see Notes for the driver under the address. These are the address’s notes for the driver, such as a gate or padlock code, followed by any notes on the order. The customer’s Office notes stay with the office and are not sent to the app.

Use the round selector if you have more than one round. Actions apply to the selected round. The Map tab shows stop locations and your position when location access is enabled.

Loading up

Open Load up and tick each stop as its goods are loaded. The first and last delivery labels help identify loading order.

If there is room for door sales, the screen says how many cylinders. Record spare cylinders under Extras, then check the product totals. Follow your business’s loading and safety procedures.

Confirming the vehicle load

Save the confirmed load. These quantities update yard stock.

You can change the load before departure. If you try to set off without confirming it, Bottle asks for the load first. After departure, record additions as top-ups.

More on the vehicle, partway round

Use Add more stock, enter only the newly loaded quantities and save. The additional stock is added to the existing vehicle balance.

Setting off

Select I have set off when leaving the yard. This enables delivery actions and notifies customers.

Bottle replaces the planned departure time with the time you actually left and recalculates the round from that time. For example, leaving at 08:00 instead of the planned 06:00 moves every remaining estimate to the 08:00 departure and applies the traffic allowance for then. The office can also mark the round departed.

Change the stop order

Select Change stop order, then use Earlier and Later on the stops you still have to visit. Completed and failed visits stay in the history and cannot be moved. Select Done changing order when the list is right.

Bottle recalculates the route and every remaining estimate. With Delivery updates on, Bottle emails a revised window if a customer’s new estimate has moved more than 15 minutes outside the window they were last sent. Changing the order needs a connection in the web driver screen; the phone apps keep the change and send it when signal returns.

Navigate

After departure, select Navigate on a stop and choose a supported maps app.

Directions use the saved stopping-point pin where one exists, otherwise the full address.

Addresses with delivery times

With location enabled, pending stops show updated arrival estimates and warnings where access times may be missed. Each timing update starts from the van’s latest position and the current time, so traffic or a long earlier visit pushes every later estimate back.

The latest vehicle position can also appear on eligible customer tracking pages. Customers do not see other stops or the full route.

Cannot make it

If you cannot reach a stop before it closes, use Cannot make it today where offered. Bottle removes it from the round, moves it to the next open delivery day and notifies the customer.

At the door

Review the delivery instructions, confirm what the customer needs and record any payment before completing the stop.

Wants more

For an unpaid order, use Wants more to increase quantities or add products. Bottle applies the customer’s prices and replaces outdated payment details.

For an already-paid order, add a new stop.

Take payment

Choose cash or card.

For cash, record full payment, partial payment or no payment. Partial payment leaves the balance outstanding.

For card, show the QR code or share the payment link. Wait for confirmation before treating it as paid.

Cash orders require an explicit payment outcome; selecting Not paid still allows the delivery to be completed. Pay-later, already-paid and paid outside Bottle orders do not require cash entry. A paid outside Bottle stop says Paid outside Bottle: nothing to collect.

Use Change cash to correct an amount. Outstanding driver cash includes older receipts, not just today’s takings.

Delivered

Select Delivered, confirm actual quantities and add proof. The save action states the delivery and payment outcome being recorded.

Recording delivered quantities

Adjust quantities if the full order was not delivered. Choose why the rest was not delivered. The reason decides what happens to it:

• Not on the vehicle or Damaged cylinder: the order stays open. The rest goes on a later round.
• Customer refused items: the customer does not want the rest. Bottle cancels it, and the order is complete with only what was delivered. Nothing is planned again. The customer pays only for what they received, and a refund due is recorded if they had already paid for the rest.
• Other: the office decides whether the rest is delivered or cancelled.

Only choose Customer refused items when the customer does not want the rest at all. If they want it another day, choose Other and add a note.

An item marked Replaces a faulty cylinder is a free replacement. Hand it over like any other item and take the faulty cylinder back. Don’t count the faulty one as an empty or record a shortfall for it: Bottle records it as damaged.

Recording a shortfall

Add an optional issue and note for the office, such as an access problem or customer complaint. Record undelivered damaged stock as a shortfall, not as delivered goods.

Proof of delivery

Use a signature plus signer’s name, or a safe-place photograph where the customer has permitted this.

Nobody in

The stop shows the customer’s safe-place, neighbour or do-not-leave instructions.

The driver decides whether the requested arrangement is safe and suitable. If not, do not leave the cylinders; record the failed delivery and reason.

Successful delivery emails include actual quantities and proof. Partial deliveries show what remains outstanding.

When customers hear from us

With Delivery updates on under Business settings → Customer emails, customers with email addresses receive departure and successful-delivery updates. Departure emails include an estimated delivery window, two hours unless you set another length. If live delays or a changed stop order move their estimate outside the last window they were sent, they receive a new window of the same length. Small changes inside that window do not produce another email.

Other order, payment and rescheduling emails depend on the workflow. See Emails to customers for the full sequence.

Could not deliver

Choose the reason that fits: nobody in, no access, the customer refused delivery, the customer cancelled, the wrong delivery day, the wrong address, items not on the van, a problem with the price, a problem with payment, or another reason. Add a note if needed.

If you choose Other, add a note saying what happened. Save stays off until you do.

The office is told the reason, and sees it with your note at the top of the order. The customer only sees that the delivery could not be made today, and that the business will be in touch about another day.

The failed visit remains recorded. The order is not automatically cancelled and can be replanned.

Adding an unplanned stop

Use New stop, then choose Delivery or sale or Collection only.

For a delivery or sale, select an existing customer or enter the buyer’s details, then choose the products, quantities and payment method. Prices use agreed customer rates where available. Pay later is available only for eligible customers.

For a collection, select the customer and the cylinders to bring back. This handles an unplanned pickup where nothing is being delivered.

The new visit is added to the round. When it is completed, Bottle updates the office with the delivered or collected cylinders and the stock on the vehicle.

Undoing a delivery

Use Undo to reverse a recorded outcome. Confirm carefully: this also removes its proof and related recorded cash. If the office has marked the order delivered, it stays delivered after the undo.

If the office marked it delivered first

The drop shows as Delivered whatever you record, including Not delivered or a part delivery, and the app does not say why. Your record, proof and any cash are still kept for the office.

Your van stock takes those cylinders off your vehicle when the office marks the order delivered, and adds any empties the office entered.

Back at the yard

Once all stops are resolved, select Back at the yard to complete the round.

For an overview of the driver apps in Bottle, see The driver apps on the Bottle website.